Noilyn Abesamis, MPH is the Deputy Director of Outreach and Research for the NYUCenter for the Study of Asian American Health (CSAAH). She has been instrumental in thedevelopment of CSAAH’s Filipino Community Health Needs Assessment. In 2004, Noilynhelped co-found the Kalusugan Coalition where she currently serves as Co-Chair. TheKalusugan Coalition is “a multidisciplinary collaboration dedicated to creating a unified voiceto improve the health of the Filipino community in the New York City/Jersey City area throughnetwork & resource development, educational activities, research, community action, andadvocacy.” In addition to her health-related work, Noilyn also co-founded Media Batik in 2003, a New York City-based independent film/video production company specializing in social-issue documentary formats. At present,she is the Executive Producer on a feature-length documentary on the impact of 9/11 on Filipinos living in the U.S.

Noilyn is a fellow for the 2005 New American Leaders Fellowship Program, a joint program with the Coro New Yorkand the New York Immigration Coalition and serves as a member of several community boards and advisory com-mittees including: Asian Pacific Islander Caucus of the American Public Health Association (Secretary), Coalition forAsian American Children and Families (Action Council Member), Jersey City Communities That Care Coalition (Co-Chair), and the Philippine-American Friendship Committee-Community Development Center, Health Committee(Member). Noilyn received a B.A. in Environmental Analysis & Design with a minor in Public Health & Epidemiologyfrom the University of California, Irvine and an MPH from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Healthwith a focus in Sociomedical Sciences.

Delia Aguilar was on the faculty of Washington State University and, before that, ofBowling Green State University in Ohio where she taught courses in women's studies andethnic studies. She has since retired and is now an adjunct professor of women's studies atthe University of Connecticut. She is the author of The Feminist Challenge: TowardReconceptualizing the Feminist Movement in the Philippines (1989), Filipino HousewivesSpeak (1991), and Toward a Nationalist Feminism (1998). Her latest publication is Womenand Globalization (Humanity Books, 2004) co-edited with Anne Lacsamana.

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Lenn Almadin, TFC/ABS-CBN - Producer, Correspondent

Gina Alfonso’s three passions lie in education, the arts, and work with the marginalized.After completing her BA from the Ateneo de Manila University, she worked as a JesuitVolunteer and was a college instructor at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City.

Having been raised by two teachers, she pursued a profession in teaching at both theelementary and tertiary levels, and involved herself in management consulting work as well,before acquiring a M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from Fordham in 1995. With a strongdesire to give back to her country, she then continued her work as directress of their familyowned Elementary and Pre-School, making it her mission to develop social awarenessamong her students. Teaching in an affluent community fueled Gina’s desire to provide thesame educational opportunities to children in underserved areas in the country. Four yearslater, upon receiving a clear message from God to return to Mindanao, she set-up a non-profit organization, Cartwheel Foundation, that has made it its mission to provide indigenouscommunities with access to wealth through education and to build schools for young indigenous children, in themost remote areas in the Philippines, with no access to education.

In 2003, Cartwheel was awarded by former President Corazon Aquino as one of 20 People Power PeopleOrganizations in the country. In 2004, together with the Community of Learners Foundation, it spearheaded a train-ing program for various teachers from five indigenous communities from Ifugao, Agusan del Sur, Nueva Ecija,Cabanglasan, and Bukidnon. Each area organized their own schools starting in 2004 serving a total of almost 200indigenous children at the early childhood levels. Gina served as President of Cartwheel Foundation until 2004, andcurrently continues to be a member of the Board, while she pursues her second Master’s degree in Art Therapy atLesley University in Boston. Art for healing will be central in the next phase of her work with the foundation. While inthe U.S., she continues to be an advocate for indigenous communities and aims to build a network of individuals pas-sionate about education and providing opportunities for indigenous youth in the Philippines.

Vivienne SM. Angeles holds a graduate degree in Political Science from Kansas StateUniversity and a PhD in Religion with concentration in Islamic Studies from Temple Universityin Philadelphia. Born and raised in the Philippines, she now teaches Judaism and Islam,Women and Islam and Dynamics of Religion at La Salle University in Philadelphia. Her currentresearch on visual expressions of Islam in the Philippines brings her to different Muslim com-munities in northern Philippines like Aparri, and all the way south to places like Tawi-Tawiislands.

Sabrina Margarita Alcantara-Tan is founder, publisher and editor of Bamboo Girl, anindependent publication created in 1995 to confront racism, sexism and homophobia asthey relate to women of color, particularly those of Filipina American, Asian Pacific IslanderAmerican, & mixed Asian heritage. Her work is featured in That Takes Ovaries!,Dragonladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire, Young Wives’ Tales: New Adventuresin Love and Partnership, and A Girl's Guide To Taking Over The World: Writings From The GirlZine Revolution. Her illustrations grace the cover of the book Consequence: BeyondResisting Rape.

She recently curated the April 2005 exhibit at Arena Space entitled, “PINTADAS: An Exhibitof Tattooed Asian Pacific Islander Women.” Pintados is the name the Spanish gave the inhabitants of Panay Islandof the Philippines because of their tattooed bodies. Pintadas is for the feminine aspect. The NYC exhibit is anunprecedented photography exhibit of tattooed API women from the East and West Coast, & from Canada whichalso featured live tattoo storytelling. The second half of the project entails a pictorial spread in the next issue ofBamboo Girl Zine, dubbed “The Tattoo Issue.” Various tattooed API women’s stories will be told and photographedin both parts of the Pintadas Project.

Sabrina is also a community organizer and a spoken word and performance artist & singer. She speaks at various universities and colleges on issues pertaining to API/Filipina, feminist, and queer women. She is a balisong wielder,a graduate of New York University, and is going to grad school to be a witchy-Babaylan Traditional Chinese Medicine healer.

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FAWN2005 Speakers and Presenters

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Christine Bacareza Balance is currently a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at NYUas well as adjunct faculty with the A/P/A Studies Program and Institute at NYU. In 1999 and2000, she and co-organizer Mark Ng brought together the first and second annual queerPilipina/o conferences at UCLA. In 2003, she hosted the first ever queer Pinay revue atBindlestiff Studio (San Francisco) for the Pinay Kolektibo. She has been organizing bothqueer people of color, Asian/Pacific American, and Pilipina/o American arts events for thepast 10 years.

Edwina Bergano is a FANHS Trustee, community grant writer and dental administrator.She is a third generation Pinay from Oahu, HI whose grand parents were original "Sakadas"immigrating to HI in the 1920's. she graduated with a BA and MPA at the University ofWashington where she received graduate training in public policy andgrant writing. Shince1985, she has written grants in the excess of $100,000 benefitting the Filipino American com-munity of Hampton Roads, VA, in producint programs to educate the general public of thehistory and culture of Filipino AMericans.

Edwina was part of the writing team prodcugin the first histoyr book okn FilipinoAmericans called, "Filipinos: ForgottenAsian American," in 1982. She currently serves as proj-

ect director of the writing team producing the first Filipino AMerican history book of Hampton Roads, VA, "In OurAunties' Words: The Filipino Spriti of HamptonRoads." The next book, "In our Uncles' Words: We Fought for Freedom," isscheduled to be released in July/2006.

Christina Baal aided in the creation and implementation of the Immigrant Women'sInitiative at Cabrini Immigrant Services. This intiative, based in Manhattan's Lower East Side,provides educational workshops and supportive counseling to Latina and Filipina immigrantwomen. Prior to this she was a Crisis Counselor for Project Liberty and provided counselingin middle and elementary schools throughout the Bronx. Christina received her Bachelor inFine Arts from New York University and has been working as a theatre artist in New York Cityfor several years. She is currently a Masters of Social candidate at Hunter College School ofSocial Work. Christina, a second-generation Filipina American who grew up in Long Island,is an active volunteer with BABAE (Bridging Assistance Building Advocacy & Empowerment),a not-for-profit organization providing culturally and linguistically appropriate case man-agement services to Filipina victims/survivors of violence.

FAWN2005 Speakers and Presenters

Sheelagh Cabalda is currently the Student and Community Affairs Director at New YorkUniversity's Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program. She coordinates the course offeringsand liaisons between faculty and students to address curricular concerns. In addition toadvising NYU students about their A/P/A minor, Sheelagh administers the CV Starr fundingfor research projects and works with youth in the Asian Pacific American Youth Alliance(APAYA), A/P/A's high school youth program. A firm believer in using art as a social tool,Sheelagh's heart warms when advocating for youth, diversity, and women's issues.

Sheelagh is a founding board member of Sumisibol, a Jersey City-based organizationdedicated to the development of Filipino American youth. She has been a fellow with theCommunity Foundation of NJ, Neighborhood Leadership Initiative and has been a member

of a national think tank through the Organization of Chinese Americans (Washington, DC) to develop aleadership/social justice curriculum for APA college students. She is the former Assistant Director of Educational andCultural Programming at NYU's Office for African American, Latino and Asian American Student Services (OASIS),where she developed a passion for creating partnerships among educational institutions and community organiza-tions.

She has consulted with several community groups including Filipino American Human Services, Inc. (FAHSI), theCoalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), and the Arab-American Family Support Center. A nativeof Jersey City, Sheelagh has written for The Jersey Journal (Jersey City, NJ). She received her MA in Higher EducationAdministration from NYU and her BA in Journalism and English from Rutgers University.

If Sheelagh had an extra life, it would be to star side by side with Lucy Ball in an 'I Love Lucy' episode.

Rachel A. R. Bundang is a doctoral candidate in Constructive Theologies, Praxis, andEthics at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She is a scholar ofAsian/Pacific American religions, Catholic moral theology, and feminist social ethics.Previous degrees include a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from Harvard Divinity School, with afocus on religion and cultural criticism; and a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) from PrincetonUniversity, with concentrations in Romance Languages and Literatures, African-AmericanStudies, and European Cultural Studies. Also trained in violin, piano, and voice, she is aworking musician and vocalist active in several jazz/funk and classical collectives.

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Amy Besa has championed the cause of Asian food systems, making it a personal mis-sion to have myriad Asian regional cuisines be better understood and appreciated byAmerican audiences. In April 2001, she organized a Southeast Asian Food Conferencetogether with the Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program of New York University. Entitled“Palates of Pleasure: The Philosophy & Politics of Southeast Asian Food,” the conferencebrought together several Asian Chefs (representing cuisines of Cambodia, Philippines,Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and India), academics, scholars, food writers and media rep-resentatives to study the history, culture, religious ideologies, politics and arts of SoutheastAsia. Amy is presently working with her husband, Chef Romy Dorotan, on Memories of

Philippine Kitchens (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, May 2006), a cookbook that traces the historical influences thatshaped Philippine cuisine.

Amy is the Co-owner of Cendrillon Restaurant in New York along with husband, Chef Romy Dorotan. Romy andAmy came to the United States as graduate students in the late 70s. At Cendrillon, they serve exceptionally beau-tifully prepared dishes from their native Philippines as well as Asian inspired personal creations of its Chef-Owner,Romy Dorotan. Cendrillon has been featured in Gourmet, Vogue, Elle, New York magazinet and The New YorkTimes. Other media interest has come from Martha Stewart TV, the Food Network and various entertainment web-sites such as Sidewalk (Microsoft), Digital Cities (AOL) and NewYork Today (New York Times). photo ©2005 Stella Kalaw

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Joan May Timtiman Cordova, originally from Stockton’s (CA) historic “Little Manila”community, earned a doctorate in education from Harvard University and a Filipino bilin-gual credential from the University of San Francisco. A teacher for more than 20 years, shehas worked with pre-school through graduate students. Joan May has been a profession-al consultant to the National Coalition of Advocates for Students & National Center ofImmigrant Students, National Educators for Social Responsibility, National Endowment forthe Humanities, and Harvard University’s Institute for International Development.

As a community volunteer, Joan May currently serves as National Vice President forFANHS, the Filipino American National Historical Society (www.fanhs-national.org) andBoard Chair for Filipino Oral History Project, Inc. She co-edited: In Our Aunties’ Words (2004),Voices :A Filipino American Oral History (2000, 1984), Unfamiliar Partners: Asian Parents in U.S. Schools (1997), andPinoy Know Yourself (1975). She’s an ordained elder of the Presbyterian Church and a past board member of theCenter for Peaceable Schools (Cambridge), Pacific/Asian Center for Theology & Strategies (Berkeley), Asian PacificCommunity Counseling (Sacramento).

Caroline Ceniza-Levine is the head of CL Search Services, provider of RecruitmentStrategy, Executive Search, and Success Coaching services. Currently, Caroline is working incampus recruiting for a Global 500 media/ publishing firm. As a success coach, Caroline worksprivately and with small groups using her “Think As Inc.” approach, a combination of businessstrategy, improv/ acting techniques and traditional coaching. Caroline is also an adjunct pro-fessor of Professional Development at Columbia University, School of International and PublicAffairs and a career advice contributor for several newspapers.

Prior to launching her own firm, Caroline recruited with Magna Consulting, a retained searchfirm specialized in the management consulting industry. Caroline also worked in campusrecruiting at Citibank. Caroline began her career in management consulting/ investmentbanking, as an engagement manager at Oliver, Wyman & Company, a financial services strat-

egy boutique, and as a summer analyst at Goldman Sachs. Prior to her corporate career, Caroline was a classicalpianist with a Diploma from the Juilliard School of Music and performances throughout New York City. Caroline is aBarnard College graduate with majors in music and economics.

Catherine Ceniza Choy is a second generation Filipina American from New York City. In2004, she became the first tenured faculty member who specializes in Filipino AmericanStudies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is an associate professor of EthnicStudies. She received her Ph.D. in History from UCLA. She is the author of Empire of Care:Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History, published by Duke University Press andco-published by Ateneo de Manila University Press in 2003. Empire of Care received anAmerican Journal of Nursing 2003 book of the year award in history and public policy; anhonorable mention for the American Studies Association’s 2004 Lora Romero First BookPublication Prize; and the Association for Asian American Studies’ 2005 history book award.She is at work on a book project on the history of Asian international adoption in the U.S.

Ana Liza Caballes. Coordinator, DAMAYAN Migrants Workers Association. New York,NY.

Dr. Angie Cruz received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the Graduate School and UniversityCenter of the City University of New York. Her employment history includes the NYC Boardof Education, the NYC Department for the Aging and United Way of New York as employ-ers. As an independent consultant, her clients have included United Way International, TLCBeatrice International Holdings, Center for the Study of Philanthropy, Center for UrbanResearch, Philippine Department of Tourism, National Institute of Mental Health and U.S.Commission on Civil Rights.

Angie answered the call to retreat ministry in 1998 and joined the lay-collaborative retreatteam of Fr. Lou Sogliuzzo of the Loyola House of Retreats in Morristown. She founded theInstitute for Spirituality in the Workplace, a non-profit 501C3organization, which offers

retreats, recollections, and spiritual direction, and aims to bring spirituality to working people on all levels, from CEOsto clerical staff.

Angie gained formal training in spiritual and retreat direction at the Loyola House in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Shejoined the two-year Adjunct Program at St. Ignatius Retreat House at its inception and is now a Staff Associate there.She served as a spiritual director, giving the 19th Annotation, and has worked in retreats and seasonal days of prayer.She is a member of Spiritual Directors International.

At Mt. Manresa Jesuit Retreat House on Staten Island, Angie serves as Asst. Coordinator of the VENI Program whichprovides cross-cultural training in spiritual and retreat direction. With Fr. Joe Costantino, S.J., Director of St. Ignatius,Angie represented the NY Jesuit Province at the Rome Consultations on February, 2003.

Angie resides in Manhattan where she is the Business Spirituality Coordinator at the Philippine Pastoral Center ofthe Filipino Apostolate of the Archdiocese of New York.

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Sari Lluch Dalena is an independent Filipino filmmaker and Fulbright scholar, currentlypursuing her MFA in Film Production at the prestigious TISCH School of the Arts in New YorkUniversity.

An award-winning filmmaker, Dalena most recently enjoyed a fantastic festival run of herfeature-length documentary Memories of a Forgotten War (a documentary on the Philippine-American War of 1899), which had the honor of being the closing film at the DocumentaryFortnight in New York City’s MoMA (Museum of Modern Art).

Prior to the documentary, she won twice for Best Short Film at the Gawad URIAN Film Awards(The Philippines’ Academy Awards) and First Prize for the Gawad CCP for Alternative Film &Video Competition for two short films: Church Dogs and Little Crosses.

Ms. Dalena had screened her films in various international film festivals in the US and Asia and is being distributedby Third World Newsreel in New York City.

Ms. Dalena is a recipient of the Fulbright-Hayes Scholarship, Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, Starr FoundationAward, Clive Davis Award, Tisch Fellowship and the Cultural Center of the Philippine's 13 Artists Award. She is current-ly finishing her first-feature film "Rigodon", a collaborative effort with Keith Sicat.

FAWN2005 Speakers and Presenters

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Melinda Luisa de Jesús is Assistant Professor of Asian Pacific American Studies at ArizonaState University where she writes and teaches about Asian American cultural productions. Heressays have appeared in RADICAL TEACHER; MERIDIANS: FEMINISM, RACE, TRANSNATIONAL-ISM; MELUS JOURNAL; THE CHILDREN'S LITERATURE ASSOCIATION QUARTERLY; AND THE JOURNALOF ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES. Her anthology, Pinay Power: Theorizing the Filipina/AmericanExperience (or PINAY POWER: PEMINIST CRITICAL THEORY, was recently published byRoutledge Press. She is an Aquarian and admits an obsession with Hello Kitty.

Dulcie Dee was born and raised in New York City and excelled as an art major at Musicand Art High School. Her passion for drawing was further encouraged when she won first prizefor her entry in the 1971 New York City Anti-Drug Abuse poster contest. This prize inspired her topursue the arts as her life career. Understanding her passionate desire to study art, her father,Teddy Dee, advised her to go to Manila in 1973 to learn about her Asian heritage and Easternculture. Dulcie is the granddaughter of Dee C. Chuan, founder of the China Bank Corporationin Manila, Philippines. Living in Manila, Dulcie studied traditional Chinese brush painting and hadthe wonderful opportunity to travel throughout Asia.

While snorkeling in the Philippines, she discovered the unique underwater world of their coralreefs and so her brilliant series of seascape works captures her joyful discovery of this rapidlyeroding Philippines eco-treasure. International reviews in popular magazines such as‘Asiaweek’, ‘Taipan’, ‘Filipinas’, and ‘Transpacific’, have featured Dulcie's efforts to alert the

public of the need to preserve the delicate coral reefs of the Philippines.

Each painting created by Dulcie pulsates with rich, vibrant, tropical colors. Her work is a fascinating fusion of Eastand West. She paints with clarity and precision with a free-flowing sense of subject, shade and color. Just as entranc-ing as her seascapes are her enigmatic paintings of lovely, demure yet sensuous Geishas. In addition to her marine sub-jects and her delicate Geishas, are her exotic female nudes, and the sensuality of the female body.

Connoisseurs and lovers of nature from 14 countries, including the United States, Australia, Japan, Singapore,Germany, France, and Bermuda have purchased her paintings for their private collections.

Dulcie earned her MFA from The Academy of Art University in SF, CA. This May she is simultaneously exhibiting herbxw Paris drawings at the Martin Luther King Library in Washington, DC“, and showing her “Mariko” at the AnnualNational Arts Club Roundtable Exhibition in NY while her “La Chatte” collage is being displayed at the Atrium Galleryin SF. Hiraya Gallery, Manila Philippines featured her “Naked City” lithographs this Spring. Dee authored and illustrat-ed “ABC Coral Reef”, an educational book for children to learn about the tropical fish in the Pacific Ocean and isawaiting publication.

International artist Maria Madonna Davidoff has lived and exhibited in Asia, Europe andthe United States. She studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines, The Art StudentsLeague of New York and Ecole Benedict in Switzerland. Maria Madonna has exhibited in theUnited States, Switzerland, France, Canada, Japan, India and the Philippines. Her New YorkCity exhibitions have been in The Museum of Natural History, The Orensanz Art FoundationCenter, The AmericaSociety/Council of the Americas, Anthem Gallery in SOHO, LamamaGalleria and PLI Gallery. Maria Madonna has also exhibited at the Cedar Ridge Gallery inToronto, Canada, the Tokyo International Exhibition Center in Japan, The GSIS Museum inManila, The Institute of the Americas in California, The Museum of Art and History, inSwitzerland, the New Delhi FAC Society Gallery in India and at the Visconti Gallery in Paris,France. Shows in 2005 include a solo exhibition at the Vargas Museum in Manila, The TokyoMetropolitan Museum, and the Langenfeld International Art Symposium in Austria.

Davidoff’s new works consist of mix-media scroll paintings, a combination of digital, linocut printing and traditionalpainting methods, and are inspired by the different countries she has lived in and visited. Her works combine mytho-logical symbols and urban icons in a playful fusion of modern Western and Eastern motifs, such as skyscrapers, zep-pelins as well as snakes and volcanoes---a rich tableaux of both primitive and modern forms. She draws upon numer-ous motifs, which are native to the Philippines and other Asian-Pacific cultures. Some of these works include autobio-graphical exploration of the subconscious through dream images and fantasy. Through playful juxtapositions of Easternand Western motifs, Davidoff achieves her unity of vision.

Her work was included in a Symposium on The History of Philippine-American Art and the Swiss Artist Events from theSwiss Consulate Cultural Section in New York City. She is also an award-winning book cover illustrator and her workshave been reviewed by a Washington Post art critic who wrote, ”Of the thirty three works on view at the FoundryGallery, I liked Maria Madonna Davidoff’s mix-media scrolls…” Her website is: www.madonnaart.com.

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Ernabel Demillo was born in Manila. She came to the United States at the tender ageof one, her parents settling in San Francisco, California. She grew up in the city, where sheknew at the age of 11 that she wanted to be a television newscaster. She graduated fromthe University of Southern California with a double major in Journalism and InternationalRelations. She went on to get her Masters in Broadcast Journalism from NorthwesternUniversity’s Medill School of Journalism. In a case of being at the right place at the righttime, the news director of the station she was interning for as its Washington D.C. based correspondent, hired her 7 weeks before graduation.

In 1993, Ernabel joined the staff of the Orange County Newschannel, a 24-hour news sta-tion in Orange County, California …now known as the “O.C.” While working as a general assignment reporter shecovered the Laguna Beach fires that destroyed more than 400 homes, the Northridge Earthquake, and the funeralof former President Richard Nixon. She also happened to be one of the news crews chasing O.J. Simpson up the 405Freeway. After two years in Southern California, she moved up north to Sacramento, where she worked as a gener-al assignment reporter for the CBS affiliate. At KOVR-13, Ernabel covered some major trials, including the Unabombertrial and the Polly Klaas trial. In 1996, she moved to New York to join the FOX-5 morning show, “Good Day New York”as a general assignment reporter. She spent almost nine years on the morning show, where her many roles includ-ed breaking news reporter, feature/entertainment reporter and anchor. She won several awards for her reporting,and more importantly was singled out by the Governor of New York for her involvement in the Asian American com-munity. Ernabel sat on several boards, including the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, AsianProfessional Extension, a mentoring organization, and the Asian American Journalists Association.

But after many years of getting up at 3 A.M., she decided to take a break from broadcasting to raise her daugh-ter, Alexa Jade, who just turned 2. She continues to write in her spare time and has her own blog.

FAWN2005 Speakers and Presenters

Anne del Castillo, P.O.V. (PBS) - Mgr. of Research & Development, Associate Producerof "Imelda." Anne del Castillo (Manager of Research and Development) has worked in theindependent media arts and public television for over ten years as a producer, program-mer and fundraiser. Prior to joining P.O.V. in 2002, she was a production associate atAmerican Masters in New York and then series coordinator for Frontline in Boston. In 1997,she moved to Austin, Texas, where she served as Associate Director of the Austin FilmSociety, and worked on a number of independent documentary and narrative film proj-ects. Her first producing effort, a six-film anthology entitled Six in Austin, debuted at theSouth by Southwest Film Festival in 2002, and she was associate producer on the documen-tary film Imelda, which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. She was vice presi-dent of the board of Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF) and holds aBA in English Literature and a BS in Mass Communications from Boston University.

Christina DeHaven is a New York-based film and television producer and a graduate ofNYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she accomplished a BFA in Film and Asian AmericanStudies. Her work on the all-Filipino American production of a film called The Debut was herfirst experience working on a feature film, and so far her producing career has led to a num-ber of other credits, including two films that were accepted to the Sundance Film Festival.Christina’s recent projects include My Uncle Berns, a feature-length documentary which cur-rently airs on HBO, and a music video for the platinum, award-winning group the Black EyedPeas, with their song The APL Song, dedicated to the plight of Filipino-American WWII veter-ans. She also produced Isaang Dekada, a commercial for The Filipino Channel (ABS/CBN),which features Lea Salonga, and involved a large collaborative effort from the Filipino

American community in three cities – Manila, Los Angeles, and New York.

Currently, Christina is working on building her new production company Undertone Films. She is also a recent addi-tion to the faculty in the Dept. of Film & Television at NYU, where she currently teaches a class on film production.

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Victoria P. Garchitorena is the President and Board Member of Ayala Foundation, Inc.(AFI) and Ayala Foundation USA and Managing Director for Stakeholder Relations of AyalaCorporation. She joined AFI in 1989 and has transformed it into a dynamic foundation thatinnovates social technologies, integrates these for a holistic approach and forms partner-ships to pool resources for social development initiatives. AFI is a non-stock, non-profitorganization that serves as the social development partner of Ayala Corporation and itssubsidiaries, Ayala Land., Bank of the Philippine Islands and Globe Telecom. AFI was organ-ized in 1961 and is committed to eradicating poverty through programs in education, youthdevelopment, information technology, environment and the arts and culture.

Malou G. Dusyn, PC has 20 years of private practice as a psycho-spiritual counselor, per-sonal life coach, and energy therapist. She is a certified Pastoral Counselor and ordainedBuddhist Minister. A student of Tibetan, Indian and Chinese philosophy for many years, andBuddhist science of the mind with great masters from Tibet for 25 years, her work is a synthe-sis of Eastern, Western, and contemporary approaches to personal and spiritual develop-ment. Currently, she is Co-Director of Hartford KTC Tibetan Buddhist Meditation and StudyCenter, and one of the Founding Directors of Complementary HealthCare Institute, a wellnessand preventative health care facility affiliated with St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center inHartford, Connecticut.

Dr. Celia Divino is a Board-Certified surgeon, with extensive experience in advanced min-imally invasive techniques. She is a member of the Faculty of the American College ofSurgeons, and works actively with many other organizations. She publishes regularly in peer-reviewed journals and leads the training of future surgeons in minimally invasive techniques.

Dr. Divino graduated from UC-Davis and earned her MD from SUNY-Brooklyn, where shegraduated Cum Laude, with Distinction in Research. Following her training in general surgeryat The Mount Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Divino joined the faculty as an attending physician andAssistant Professor of Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical School. Prior to her most recent appoint-ment at Mount Sinai, Dr. Divino served as Chief of Minimally Invasive and Laparoscopic

Surgery at Maimonides Medical Center.

Dr. Divino is active in numerous professional societies. In addition to the American College, her affiliations include:Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgery, Society of Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the MedicalSociety of the State of New York and the Association of Women Surgeons.

Dr. Divino is also active in medical research and teaching. She has published numerous articles in leading medicaljournals and has presented her work at major professional conferences nationwide.

Ramona S. Diaz is an Asian-American filmmaker whose credits include Spirits Rising, anaward-winning documentary about women’s role in the 1986 People Power revolution inthe Philippines. Prior to pursuing a career as an independent filmmaker, Ramona was anassociate producer for Cadillac Desert, a major PBS documentary series about the quest forwater in the American West. She also line-produced and edited an award-winning, 24-parttelevision series in the Philippines about the immigrant experiences of Filipinos residing inEurope and America entitled Apple Pie, Patis, Pate, atbp…

Ramona is a graduate of Emerson College, Boston, and holds an MA in Communicationfrom Stanford University. Her latest film, Imelda, a full-length documentary about the FormerFirst Lady of the Philippines, garnered the Excellence In Cinematography Award for documentary at last year’s 2004Sundance Film Festival.

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Mary Lou U. Hardillo-Werning free-lances in between her itinerant schedule: publica-tion, teaching and translation work, solidarity and advocacy work for migrant women. Shestudied Ethnology, Sociology and English Literature at the University of Muenster, co-found-ed Philippine Women's Forum and represented Babaylan, The Philippine Women's Networkin Europe at the UN 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. She is theChairperson of Babaylan, 2001-2004. She is presently the chairperson of Babaylanes WomenGermany and Philippine Women's Forum Germany. She co-authored the book Philippinen,Paradies in Aufruhr, Berlin and Verhalten auf den Philippinen. She edited the bookTransEuroExpress, Filipinas in Europe.

She teaches Pilipino, English and orientation courses about the Philippines in develop-mental and cooperation institutions in Germany.

Valerie Castillo Jelski is a native of the Philippines, and graduated from PhilippineNormal University. She taught mathematics at San Juan de Letran College in Manila forseveral years before emigrating to the United States. She is currently an American citi-zen, is married and has raised two children.

In 1996 Valerie accompanied her family to Kampala, Uganda, where her husbandhad a Fulbright scholarship teaching at Makerere University. Valerie began taking artlessons there, studying first with Margaret Nagawa, a well-known local artist. She hasalso worked with Peter Otim, Josephine Mukasa and Fred Mutebe. Ms Mukasa is on theart faculty at Makerere University.

Since returning to the United States in 1997, Valerie has modified the African theme,incorporating both American and Filipino elements.

FAWN2005 Speakers and Presenters

Azon Juan is a segment producer for MTV News + Docs. She produces documentarieson cultural topics and trends that are especially relevant to young people. Since joiningMTV in 2000, Azon’s successful projects include the Academy Award nominated documen-tary feature film Tupac: Resurrection. The film was also an official selection of the SundanceFilm Festival and was nominated for the International Documentary Association'sDistinguished Documentary Achievement Awards in 2003. Azon is currently producing anddirecting for MTV’s newest hit series My Super Sweet 16.

Azon is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she majored in Anthropology.

Vivian Itchon Gupta has been involved in outreach and advocacy regarding women’sand multicultural issues since 1991 having worked with such organizations as: Sakhi for SouthAsian Women, Victim Services (now Safe Horizon), Asian American Federation of New York,Lila Pilipina Task Force on Filipina Comfort Women, Coalition for Asian American Children &Families, and the American Cancer Society’s South Asian Outreach Project. She is aCommunity Initiatives Consultant for Girl Scouts of Nassau County in Garden City, Long Island,where she helps build partnerships with community organizations that provide services to var-ious Asian American populations.

Vivian worked in the Philippines with GABRIELA’s Commission on Violence Against Womendoing counseling, training, and organizing work around issues of domestic violence, sexualassault, and sex trafficking and served two terms as Coordinator of GABRIELA Network’s NewYork/New Jersey Chapter. She is currently GABNet's National Education Director.

She is also a founding member and Board President of BABAE (Bridging Assistance Building Advocacy &Empowerment), a non-profit organization serving Filipina victims of violence established in 2002.

She was born and raised in New York to a Filipina mother and Indian father and has traveled extensively throughboth countries of her heritage. She received her B.A. in Psychology from New York University and holds Master ofArts & Master of Education degrees in Cross-Cultural Counseling Psychology from Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity.

FAWN2005 Speakers and Presenters

Mary Carmen Remigio Madrid-Crost, Esq. is a principal at the Law Offices of Mary CarmenR. Madrid-Crost. The firm’s practice is concentrated in immigration and nationality law, with astrong commitment towards representing immigrants and non-immigrants in securing properand legal documentation compatible with current government legislation. The law officeassists individual and corporate.

Mary Carmen holds a Master of Laws (L.L.M.) degree from George Washington University’sNational Law Center and two degrees from the University of the Philippines – a Bachelor ofLaws (J.D.) and a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.), major in Economics. She was admitted to the New YorkBar prior to embarking on a solo practice based in Chicago, Illinois. She is also an active mem-ber of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Association of the City Bar of New

York, New York State Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, and Chicago Bar Association. She is also a found-ing member and past president of the Filipino-American Bar Association (FABA).

During her stint as president of FABA, Mary Carmen engaged in community outreach programs and createdalliances with other legal organizations that would benefit the Filipino community in Chicago. She actively providespro bono services through recognized legal service organizations such as the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services(CVLS), the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), and the Midwest Immigrant Rights Center(MIRC).

Mary Carmen’s leadership skills have been honed over the years when she held directorial positions at the AsianHuman Services in Chicago and the Philippine American Cultural Foundation. She is also a member of the AsianAmerican Advisory Council for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and the University of the Philippines Club ofAmerica – Illinois Chapter. While pursuing her law studies, Mary Carmen worked as a junior economist for theStrategic Planning Group of the Ministry of Human Settlements and as a research assistant for the Academy of ASEANLaw and Jurisprudence of the University of the Philippines’ Law Center. Upon graduation, she received a scholarshipto the Human Rights Program of the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, which culminatedin an internship at the Human Rights Department of the Council of Europe.

At present, Mary Carmen enjoys success built on years of conscientious practice. She continues to help her com-patriots as they navigate their way towards realizing their American dreams of family unity, happiness, & prosperity.

Letecia Layson is a Filipina, Feminist, Futurist, Priestess of Morphogenesis (Form ComingInto Being), Priestess of Isis and High Priestess of Diana, ordained in the Dianic Tradition, TheFellowship of Isis (FOI) and The Temple of Isis. Dedicated to a path of service to She of TenThousand Names, Letecia is committed to embodying the principle, 'personal is political' byhealing and transforming civilization through her words, voice, dance, art and rituals. Sheworks with her communities, Circle of Aradia and The Temple of Isis in Los Angeles,CA. Shecultivates Life and land through permaculture in Ojai, CA

Marie Obaña a.k.a “Ree” was born and raised in San Diego, California but has beenliving in New York for almost 4 years now. Since her move to NY, Ree has been working asa counselor and social worker to youth of color and has recently graduated from NYU withher Masters in Social Work. She has been active in the Filipino community since her earlyyears of high school and was always eager to learn about the roots ad history of her peo-ple. Currently, she is an organizer of UGNAYAN, a comprehensive grassroots organizationbased in New York and New Jersey that upholds & promotes the rights and welfare ofFilipino Youth. Ree is dedicated to educating, organizing & mobilizing Filipino youth andour communities. She is a cultural worker, using poetry, spoken word and street theatre asa means of expressing personal/political issues, and in arousing and organizing the peo-

ple. She loves all beautiful things including ube ice cream and avocado shakes!

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Potri Ranka Manis an artist, activist, diviner and director is also the of Founder Kinding Sindaw, a New York Citybased performance troupe, that performs indigenous dances from southern Philippines. As a performance troupethat focuses on the art and culture of marginalized peoples of southern Philippines, Kinding Sindaw focuses oneducating, enlightening and informing audiences of all ethnicities and background in the tri-state area to theproud history, culture and contemporary issues affecting these peoples. Kinding Sindaw utilizes its art to connectthe history and struggles of these marginalized peoples to the struggles of indigenous and minority peoplesthroughout the world.

Potri is a political and cultural activist who suffered political imprisonment and torture dur-ing the Marcos dictatorial regime. This lead her to have a firm grip on the Augustus Boaltechnique of Theater of the Oppressed as an artist

Potri learned all the ways of the Maranao tradition as a child. Her family is a keeper of theDarangen tradition where the ancestral heritage is enshrined and handed down throughgeneration of Onor (through oral tradition). She has learned silat martial arts from her father.She visited the neighboring indigenous peoples and learned their ways of life. She stayedwith the Tiboli people and learned their healing and language and their sacred chantedepic Lemlunay. photo © Corky Lee

Rosario-May Mayor is the Compliance Officer at the Bronx VA Medical Center. Shebegan her VA career in 1983 at the Manhattan, New York VA Medical Center. Prior to join-ing the VA, Mayor worked in nursing at Metropolitan Hospital, Cabrini Hospital, MemorialSloan Kettering Hospital, all in New York City, and with the International Rescue Committeein Bangkok, Thailand.

Ms. Mayor holds a nursing degree from the University of Philippines and a Master of Artsdegree in Nursing (MA) from Columbia University. Mayor first came to the Bronx VA in 1997,leaving briefly to serve a 2-year stint as the Patient Safety Officer for the VA's New YorkRegion Headquarters (VISN3), also located in the Bronx. Mayor returned to the Bronx VAMedical Center in June 2004 to assume duties as the Compliance Officer and Staff Assistantto the Director.

The Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA) has announced the election of Ms. Mayor, , as the new"President-Elect" of the organization. The PNAA was formed in 1979 in response to the growing need of a concertedeffort to address the issues and concerns of Filipino nurses in the United States. The PNAA, formally known as theFederation of Philippine Nurses Association, is comprised of 32 chapters across the United States. Along with its mem-bership, the PNAA represents over 10,000 Filipino-American nurses in the United States at various levels of profession-al organizations, government agencies, community groups and other coalitions.

Sr. Mary John Mananzan,OSB is a Missionary Benedictine sister. She obtained her doc-torate degree in Philosophy major in Linguistic Philosophy at the Pontifical GregorianUniversity in Rome, Italy and a degree in Missiology at the Wilhelmsuniversitaet in Muenster,Germany. Her involvement includes charting new paths in the academe and working withthe masses especially the women. As a feminist-activist she has given birth to women-cen-tered programs among them are the Institute of Women’s Studies, Women Ecology andWholeness Farm, and the Women Crisis Center. She was the National Chairperson ofGABRIELA, a broad alliance of women’s organization for 18 years.(1986-2004)

She is actively involved in developing a distinct Third World Theology and was theExecutive Secretary and Treasurer of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians(EATWOT) until September, 2001. She served for 5 years as the International Coordinator ofthe Women’s Commision of EATWOT which developed a Feminist Theology of Liberation from the perspective of ThirdWorld women. She was President of St. Scholastica’s College for 6 years (1996-2002) and has just been electedPrioress of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters in the Manila Priory.

She was awarded the Dorothy Cadbury Fellowship in 1994 in Birmingham and Henry Luce Fellowship at the UnionTheological Seminary in New York in 1995.

She has just been granted a Fellowship as an Asian Public Intellectual of 2002 by the Nippon Foundation andundertook a research on Woman, Religion and Spirituality in Asia in four Asian countries. Her book entitled Woman,Religion and Spirituality was published by Anvil and was launched during the International Book Fair at the WorldTrade Center in Manila on August 15, 2004.

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FAWN2005 Speakers and Presenters

Honorable Consul General Cecilia B. Rebong, Philippine Consulate, New York, NY. Con Gen Rebong has worked in diplomatic service since the 1980s and has been conferredby the President of the Republic of the Philippines the Gawad Mabini, rank of DakilingKamanong in 2003, for distinguished accomplishments and exemplary service in theDepartment of Foreign Affairs, for promoting and advancing the interests of the Philippinesand the Filipino people during her service at the Philippine Consulate General in New York, thePhilippine Mission to the United Nations, the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., and foroutstanding performance and dedication to duties as Chief of Presidential Protocol andPresidential Assistant on Foreign Affairs.

Con Gen Rebong has served as the Director for Human Rights, Social, Cultural andHumanitarian Issues at the Office of United Nations and Other International Organizations

(UNIO) from 1991 to 1993. She was the Chief Coordinator of the Group 77(grouping of developing countries in theUnited Nations) for issues dealing with sustainable development and operational activities from 1995-1997. With theUnited Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund UNDP/UNFPA) Board, she has served asVice-President of the Executive Board, Chairman of the Drafting Group on Rules of Procedure, and member of theExecutive Board Field Mission to the People’s Republic of China. She was also a member of the UN SpecialCommittee Against Apartheid’s Mission of Women Leaders to Asia and the Pacific Countries in 1984. and she hasbeen a Philippine delegate and representative in numerous U.N. sessions and committees, including the WorldCongress of Women for Peace and Development (Moscow, USSR, 1987) and the UN World Conference to Reviewand Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for Women (Nairobi, Kenya, 1985).

Cecilia Rebong hails from Santa Cruz, Laguna. She and husband Oscar H. Rebong and they have two children.

Evelie Delfino Sáles Posch, ritualist, musician, singer, teacher, healer, is the founderof Babaylan Emerging Apprenticeship and Mentoring {BEAM} Program. BEAM is a mini-mum 3-year training for developing spiritual leadership through the exploration andpractice of our Philippine indigenous, shamanistic spirituality and other earth-basedworld spiritualities.

Evelie is the Musical Director of Bodhi-Gaia Ensemble of the Metropolitan CommunityChurch and of the Spiral Dance Chorus and Band (www.reclaiming.org). She is a ritualConsultant and ritualist/singer for the Spiral Dance, Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason and withTechno Cosmic Masses, University of Creation Spirituality, www.technocosmicmass.org.And she is on the faculty of Young Imaginations (www.youngimaginations.org) andteachers music at Liberty House Studios.

Evelie is also a producer with through Magic Spirit Music, does consultation, and worksto perform rites of passage, blessing ceremonies, sound and music healing (with kulin-tang/bronze gongs, tibetan singing bowls, drumming, voice overtones), pranic healing(energy/chakra balancing), intuitive counseling and spiritual life coaching.

Bino A. Realuyo is a novelist and poet who was born in the late sixties in Manila,Philippines and raised by fierce women there and in New York City. His acclaimed novel, THEUMBRELLA COUNTRY, published by Ballantine Reader's Circle, Random House.

Christina Quisumbing Ramilo was born in the Philippines and moved to New York in1985. She received her BA in Editorial Design and Illustration from the University of thePhilippines and her MA in Studio Art and Art Education from New York University.

Christina has exhibited extensively in New York City, Manila and around the world. Her soloexhibitions include NENA (Corredor Gallery, University of the Philippines, 2004); Powerlines(The West Gallery (Ayala Center), Metro Manila, Philippines, 2003); "1998" (Cendrillon, NewYork, NY, 1998); Recent Works (Cendrillon, New York, NY, 1996); Ritual (The West Gallery,Metro Manila, Philippines, 1996); and Guni-Gunita (Philippine Center, New York, NY, 1993).

Christina lives in Jackson Heights, Queens.

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Antonina C. Santos is an independent financial adviser for a Fortune 50 firm and a direc-tor for Eternal Events company (AD-Zoo LLC), an event marketing company, which hasgained several loyal clients in the last 3 years.

She is a very active person, is on the go whether it is with shaolin kung fu class or playingsoccer on sundays with her team. She attended Parsons University for 3 years but decidedto put off finishing when she starting her own marketing firm. She attended Harrison HighSchool in Westchester after she came to NY in 1986 from the great city of Bacolod. She is inthe process of opening an internet cafe for the year 2006 in Hinigaran on Negros Island ofthe Philippines, where she grew up as a child. Also, an avid traveler she is in the process oftrying to “conquer” the last continent, Africa.

Karin Aguilar San Juan is a second-generation Pinay born in Boston, Massachusetts.She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota where she is an assistant professor of American Studies atMacalester College. She teaches about race and racism, white privilege, Asian Americans,and urban sociology. She is writing a book about Vietnamese Americans in Boston andOrange County. She edited an anthology called The State of Asian America: Activism andResistance in the 1990s. Before she became a college professor, she edited and publishedbooks and magazines for the alternative media. She was an editor at Dollars & Sense mag-azine, a progressive economics monthly, and South End Press, an independent publisher oftrade, non-fiction books. She has a B.A. in Economics from Swarthmore College and an M.A.and Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University.

Karin has studied martial arts for nearly 20 years and still practices regularly. She is a very casual practitioner of ZenBuddhism. She likes playing the djembe (West African hand drum) and taking photographs of life in the city.

Veronica Salcedo is second-generatoin Pinay born and raised in Va Beach, VA.Veronica is a 3rd year Social Studies Teacher at Bayside High School and co-sponosor of theFilipino American Cultural Association and the Gay-Straight Alliance at Bayside. Her hum-ble roots began with a creative Pinay nurse mother, a determined Pinoy navy father, a veryloving and adobo-frying Lolo, and the tallest,hardest-working Pinay younger sister. Veronicawas culturally lost until she was inspired by Salem FACS, the Cordovas and the FANHS Family,and the Angry Little Asian Grrrls at the College of William and Mary. She graduated in 2002with a BA in History and Secondary Level Education. Veronica is currently serving as theFilipino American National Historical Society-Hampton Roads Chapter VP and continues tolove and support the students in the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue-District 7.In her college days, she was inspired at the FAWN 2000 conference in San Mateo and looks forward to giving backto the youth. Her future goals include an oral history book, "In Our Uncles' Words: We fought for Freedom," attendinggraduate school, and exploring issues of the queer Pinay community.

Patria Rivera is a poet and editor. PUTI/WHITE, her first poetry collection, was launchedby Frontenac House, a Canadian publishing company, in April in Calgary, Alberta, and inMay in Toronto. She has written extensively for both local and international publications,and was a fellow at the University of the Philippines Writers' Workshop and the DumagueteNational Writers' Workshop. In 1997 she won an honourable mention in the ARC PoetryMagazine Second Annual Poem of the Year Contest for her poem, Living on the borders,dying in the margins.

She has also received writing grants from the Writers Union of Canada and the OntarioArts Council. In 2001, she was awarded a fellowship in poetry writing at the Banff Centre forthe Arts in Alberta. Last year, she received a fellowship to the Hawthornden Castle

International Writers Retreat Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Patria graduated with a journalism degree from the Institute of Mass Communication as well as earned a certifi-cate in development economics from the School of Economics at the University of the Philippines. She also studiedmedia management at the International Training Institute in Sydney, Australia, and economic report writing at theInternational Institute for Journalism in Berlin, Germany.

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Tesa Totengco, Tesa Totengco is co-owner, Vice-President and Sales Director of RafeStudio Ltd. In 2000, she quit her job to join forces with her brother, designer Rafe Totengco,and establish Rafe Studio Ltd. As Sales Director, Totengco has doubled gross sales in eachyear since the company was founded. In 2001, they opened their flagship store at OneBleecker Street, NYC. In Japan, with Eternal as their distributor, they’ve opened Rafe shopsin Yokohama, Nagoya and Tokyo.

Rafe Studio Ltd. is a privately owned company that designs, manufactures and distributesthe Rafe New York and Rafe Totengco brands of women’s and men’s fashion accessories.Rafe shoes, handbags, belts and jewelry are sold in the major department stores and over300 specialty stores in the U.S. Abroad, Rafe is sold South America, Carribean, Canada,Europe, Russia, Africa, Middle East, Asia and New Zealand.

Tesa graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University in Manila with a degree in AB Communication Arts. Sheworked her way through college by modeling for Pitoy Moreno, Ben Farrales, Rustan’s, Shoemart, Cinderella, etc. Inthe mid-80’s, Tesa moved to Manhattan and has worked in the fashion industry in both the wholesale & retail sectors,in the capacity of Sales, Management and Finance.

She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband, three sons, and dog.

Janet Stickmon, author of the book, Crushing Soft Rubies, is a teacher, writer, and per-former who holds a Master’s of the Arts Degree in Religion and Society from the GraduateTheological Union in Berkeley and a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Civil Engineeringfrom the University of California, Irvine. Her work has influenced hundreds of adolescentsand adults for the last ten years. She has been a featured speaker, retreat leader, andworkshop facilitator on subjects ranging from oppression and media portrayal of peopleof color to intimacy and Catholic ministry.

Stickmon is also a spoken word artist who has performed at venues in San Francisco,San Jose, cities in the East Bay, Seattle, WA and Kansas City, MO. Through her perform-ances and literature, she explores issues of love, grief, and resurrection in the context ofher identity as an African-Filipino-American woman. These works have culminated into apoetry book entitled, Unfragmented and a spoken word CD entitled, “Visible”.

Leny Mendoza Strobel is the author of A Book of Her Own: Words and Images to Honorthe Babaylan (T’boli Publishing) and Coming Full Circle: The Process of DecolonizationAmong Post-1965 Filipino Americans (Giraffe Books). She is co-editor (with Roshni Rustomjiand Rajini Srikanth) of Encounters: People of Asian Descent in the Americas (Rowman &Littlefield). Her writing is also included in Pinay Power:Peminist Critical Theory Theorizing theFilipina/American Experience (Routledge, 2005), Identifying Race and TransformingWhiteness in the Classroom (Peter Lang, 2004); Postcolonial Theory and the United States:Race, Ethnicity, and Literature (University of Mississippi Press, 2000). Leny holds the 2001Gamaliel Chair for Peace and Justice of the Greater Milwaukee Campus Lutheran Ministry.

Jorshinelle Sonza, a playwright and teacher, earned her doctorate degree in Englishand Comparative Literature from Drew University, New Jersey. She also has an MFA degreefrom the New School University's Actors Studio Drama School in New York City. Three of herplays have been performed at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium as part of the NewSchool University Diversity Initiative, at the Actor Studio Theater for the Repertory Season, andat the New York Philippine Consulate. Her scholarly articles have appeared in journals sucha sTHE JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURES, RESEARCH IN AFRICAN LITERATURE and theARKANSAS REVIEW. She is a two-time Palanca awardee and a Philippine Centennial Literaryawardee. She has taught at Virginia Polytechnic State University and is currently a writinginstructor at the College of St. Elizabeth and Rutgers University.

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Irene Villaseñor (Youth Views Manager, P.O.V./PBS) is an award-winning communityorganizer and filmmaker. Prior to joining P.O.V., Villaseñor was an HIV/AIDS Peer Educatorand Peer Mentor for the Young People's Project at the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition onHIV/AIDS (APICHA) for four years. She is a

graduate from Educational Video Center's High School Documentary Workshop

and from Youth Organizers' Television, where she co-produced Out Youth In

Schools, a documentary about Gay/Straight Alliances in high schools and Hip

Hop: A Culture of Influence, respectively. As an advocate for issues relating to Asian Pacific American, queer,transgendered and youth communities, Villaseñor has lectured at venues including the Rabbi Marshall T. MeyerWorking Retreats for Social Justice in New York, The International Photography Institute at Columbia University,Museum of Chinese in the Americas, The Sundance Institute's Gen-Y Studio, and Yale University. Villaseñor is a grad-uate of City-As-School High School of New York, where she co-founded the school's Gay/Straight Alliance.

Elaine Villamin was “Made in the Philippines” and born in Oakland, California.Currently, she is making and selling wine for her family’s vineyard and winery, Eden CanyonVineyards. During college, Elaine survived a life threatening illness that changed her lifepath. Her studies and work changed focus to advocating for policies that help strugglingyouth and children thrive in the United States. Elaine researched youth and education poli-cies under Prof. Kristin Luker, and was awarded a B.A. with Honors in Sociology from theUniversity of California at Berkeley in 1996.

After college, Elaine continued her youth and education policy work at the BerkeleyMedia Studies Group. As a Research Assistant, she employed media advocacy to help prevent and reduce youthviolence, expand children’s health insurance, and engage the media and politicians in public health policy solu-tions. Elaine also worked for the Business Enterprise Trust where she researched businesses for social responsibility.

Elaine expanded her business knowledge by managing a competitor intelligence research group for BarclaysGlobal Investors. The time at BGI introduced her to successful business models and to the wine world (via businessdinners). Elaine and her father started learning more about wine and made their first vintages in 2002. Their first vin-tages—2002 Eden Canyon Vineyards “Paso Robles” Cabernet Sauvignon and 2003 Eden Canyon Vineyards “Estate”Cabernet Sauvignon—earned medals in the 2005 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Elaine’s passion is storytelling- through wine, music, film, and family dinners. photo ©2005 Stella Kalaw

Mary Ann Ubaldo embodies the intricate sensibilities of the Filipino immigrant wave ofthe late 70's/early 80's now coming of age in America. Based in New York City, Mary Ann isa photographer, musician, and community activist.

She has formed her jewelry business called Urduja, named after the mythical Philippineprincess whom she identifies as thefirst Filipina feminist. Mary Ann finds affirmation in herbeing Filipina by using the Ancient Philippine Script called baybayin or alibata. She frequently uses nature & indigenous motifs in her customized baybayin jewelry.www.urduja.com

FAWN2005 Speakers and Presenters

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Cheryl Baun, Fundraising Cheryl gained her fundraising experience through a number of non-profit organizations in

New York City, including the Asian American Federation of New York, Community ResourceExchange and the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA). She is current-ly the development manager, foundations at the National Hemophilia Foundation and is aboard member of Philippine Forum. Cheryl graduated from Vassar College and has a mas-ters degree in urban planning from New York University.

Lorial Crowder, Vice ChairwomanLorial (aka Lory) was born in Olongapo City, Philippines. She was adopted by the Crowder

family in 1981 at the age of 5 years and grew up in Hamden, CT where her mother Julie andtwo brothers Edward and Bruce still reside.

She currenlt lives in New York City by way of Boston and will receive her Master's In SocialWork from Hunter College. She studied community organizing and planning and intends towork with the immigrant population as well as advocacy with the international adoptioncommunity. She recently launched the Filipino Adoptees Network website with her closefriend Sharon Cuartero to the world wide web this past January.

Xanthe Sonza, Program & Speakers DirectorXanthe is a first generation Filipina-American woman. She was born in Manila and lived

there for a decade before moving to New Jersey. She currently lives in New York City.Xanthe graduated from Wellesley College and holds a master's degree in social work fromColumbia University. She currently works as an intensive case manager for a community-based organization, Care for the Homeless.

April Pearl Evangelistsa, Venue Director April is currently the diabetes education coordinator at Montefiore Family Health Center

working under the Bronx Defeat Diabetes Project, a member of the Bronx Copmmunity HealthNetwork. Ms. Evangelista received her Master's in Public Health with a concentration inCommunity Health Education at New York University.

Previously she worked with World Health Organization's Western Pacific Region Office inworking to eliminate lymphatic filariasis in Bicol through communication for behavioral healthimpact (COMBI). She is a co-founder of Philippine American Youth Organization (PAYO) in LasVegas and has worked with UNLV's Filipino American Student Organization in the past.

Perla Ramos Paredes Daly, ChairwomanPerla is an at-home-mom and a multimedia artist whose mediums are digital art, graphic

design, photography, painting, baybayin jewelry, and dream journeying. She writes featurearticles and spiritual explorations in poetry and prose that includes the Bahala Meditations.She received the FAWN2000 Babaylan Award for her work on BagongPinay, aka www.new-filipina.com, a pioneering web site for and by Filipino women, that she co-founded with ElkeAspillera in 1998. She has contributed her experience of pinay cyber-feminism to the anthol-ogy Pinay Power: Theorizing the Filipina/American Experience (ed. Melinda L. de Jesus).And she has been honored an Outstanding Scholastican Achiever by the St. Scholastica’sAcademy Alumnae Association of Bacolod City, Philippines.

With NewFilipina, Inc. volunteers she has organized Filipina networking nights in New YorkCity and, with Valeria Tapalla, Wowee!(Celebrating Women's Wisdom) gatherings in Manila.Perla continues her writings on Filipina identity online and on the mystical aspects of pakikipagkapwa. She recently finished art production and design for Leny M. Strobel’s A Book of Her Own: Words and Images to Honor theBabaylan (T’boli Publishing). Perla also takes time for family, reading, yoga, gardening, reiki healing, drumming, lap-top activism, and alternative forays into Filipino spirituality and identity. She got her Bachelor in Fine Arts, VisualCommunications from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Presently, she lives with her husband Kenneth, their 3sons and their Lola in the Connecticut bundoks where there are rivers, streams, woods, owls, lots of open air andbright starry nights.

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Marv Velando, Art Exhibit CoordinatorMarv is an emerging New York artist and writer in diverse mediums and temperament. Her

personal joys include her extended family, cooking, climbing, and a challenge to run alltop ten world marathons. Marv holds a Bachelor of Science from the College of Economicsand Management at the University of the Philippines, where she was also a college schol-ar and AIKOM Arts Exchange Program nominee with the University of Tokyo. Her work expe-rience includes healthcare management, marketing, accounting and research both forprofit and non-profit organizations. Currently, Marv is a consultant to the National BookFoundation.

Elke Aspillera Rachel BundangSheelagh CabaldaRosemarie Consunji

Christina DehavenMary Despe Bernadette EllorinJacqui Robles

Antonina Santos Jorshinelle SonzaBetsy V. VillanuevaCarmela Zenarosa

Other Volunteers, Planners and Organizers

FAWN2005 Steering Committee

Julia V. Camagong, Fiscal Agent, Philippine Forum Julia is the Co-Executive Director of the Philippine Forum. She is a 2003 recipient of the

Union Square Awards, which honors individuals who make notable contributions to the edu-cational, econonmic, and cultural life in New York. She performed in street plas in the anti-Marcos rallies in the Philippines, as part of the teater group Peryante (Carnival Players), wasco-founder and executive director of the San Francisco based theater group Teatro ngTanan, and has produced, directed and acted in plays, films, and television. She is the pro-gram director of the Philippine Studies Program, which brings Filipino American youth to thePhilippines for a live-and-study-program in coordination with the UP and the University ofCalifornia.

Sharon A. Cuartero, Web Maintenance Sharon is a co-founder of the Filipino Adoptees Network, a web based support organi-

zation for Filipino Adoptees. She was born in Manila and adopted by an American fami-ly. She is a non-traditional student pursuing an English degree at Charter Oak StateCollege. In her spare time, Sharon does freelance web design and desktop publishing forCuartero Consulting, a family-owned consulting firm. She is also an avid writer currentlyworking on a manuscript in relation to her adoption experience.

Myla T. Lopez, Public Relations and Marketing Myla is the co-founder of Little Barangay, the only formal Filipino language and culture

school for school-age children in the New York/New Jersey area. In addition, Myla does mar-keting consulting work for White Toque Inc., a gourmet food company co-owned by herhusband. A former marketing executive at Kraft Foods, Myla also worked in advertising forclients like Warner-Lambert and Sears Roebuck.

Myla received her International MBA in Marketing and Finance from Fordham Universityand her BA in Journalism from Temple University. Her previous volunteer work includes work-ing for children-related causes in the following associations: Big Sister of America, New YorkCares Team Leader, Make-A-Wish Fundraiser Co-Chair and the Junior League of Morristown.Myla's proudest moments are giving birth to her daughter, Chiara, and running the New YorkCity Marathon.